Enemy at the Gates: the lonely struggle of a Welsh Gaul

Machynlleth, a small town in Wales, is under attack from a vicious superpower. The Guardian’s local correspondent reports first hand from the heart of the combat zone:

“it’s only now, when I’m caught in the middle of it, that the full force of this injustice hits me. Like everyone else here I feel powerless, unstrung as I watch disaster unfolding in slow motion.”

The “disaster” has a name: Tesco plans to open a store in Machynlleth. That, in itself, does not yet sound very spectacular. Tesco opens new stores every now and then, and we don’t usually hear about it. But Machynlleth is not just any small town. It is the hometown of George Monbiot. And he will not surrender without a fight:

“If this monster is built, everything that is special and precious and distinctive about this town – the quirky shops, the UK’s oldest farmers’ market, the busy community – falls under its shadow. Tesco will suck the marrow out of us.”

However, Monbiot’s war diary takes a strange turn when he begins portraying the locals’ resentment against the store. If nearly the whole town rejects Tesco anyway, one wonders, then why all the hassle? Surely this means that the new branch will be near-empty most of the time, so why not lean back, and wait until the head office has to close down the notorious loss maker? McDonald’s, for example, withdrew from Bolivia after realising that most locals would not accept them. Monbiot’s confidence in the “right” moral sense of his fellow townsmen cannot be all that strong. Trust is good. Control is better.

Monbiot’s rejects the branch opening for both cultural and economic reasons. He believes that Tesco stores destroy jobs, because “independent shops employ five times as many people per unit of turnover”. This is a vivid example of what Bryan Caplan calls the “make-work bias“, the confusion of work creation with wealth creation. If a high ratio of employees to turnover was a good thing per se, why not achieve an even higher ratio by prohibiting the use of scanners and electronic tills at the checkout counter? And if the use of lorries was prohibited so that each article had to be carried to the stores by foot, then virtually the whole town could be employed in retail. But, as Caplan explains,

“Every time we figure out how to accomplish a goal using fewer workers, it enriches society, because labor is a valuable resource.”

Admittedly, I know nothing about the local economy of Machynlleth. But I would be very surprised if there was no sensible work that could be done there. Outside the Garden of Eden, there has never been a place where nothing useful could be done. So maybe George Monbiot should simply be a bit less worried about where his neighbours do their shopping.

I don’t wish to be insulting, but George Monbiot sounds like a conservative. Is he content simply to resist change, or would he actually prefer to turn the clock, I wonder?I think I may be able to suggest a solution to his ‘injustice’. It depends on coercion, too, which should satisfy George. Why doesn’t the government nationalise the proposed Tesco store in Machynlleth and then run it as a government enterprise? I dare say that would soon produce a strong movement of local opinion against the new store. And in the end taxpayers should be pleased too, since closing down the failing government store will save them having to finance its continuing losses.

Submitted by Len Shackleton on Tue, 18/08/2009 - 13:00.

Having had a look at George Monbiot’s blog I am very impressed at his energy – strident opinions on so many things, and virtually all of them wrong….

Submitted by Kris on Wed, 19/08/2009 - 10:17.

Initially I hypothesised George Monbiot was a fictional character made up by some free-marketeers. Everything he writes is just too ‘too’; as if someone tried to confirm each and every cliche. Along the lines of: “Let’s make up a column writer who produces concentrates of leftie buzzwords. Let’s give him an English-sounding forename and a French-sounding surname; James Lacroix or so.”

Submitted by James Heartfield on Thu, 20/08/2009 - 19:31.

‘Locally-based environmental campaigner and journalist George Monbiot has said that the development will “wreck Machynlleth”. However, local resident of 60 years Kay Jones said she was furious over [MP Lembit] Öpik’s petition [against the siting of the new Tesco in the town]. “What has this got to do with him? “The majority of the town are for this supermarket, as it will bring jobs to the area. Machynlleth is going to be left behind and it will be left as some quiet backwater place.” The Mayor of Machynlleth, Cllr Sylvia Rowlands, said she had been inundated with comments from the public over the Tesco plans. “The response I’ve had is that more people are for it than against,” she said ‘Aberaeron Today, 6 August 2009http://www.aberaeron-today.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=30845&headline=Store%20Wars%20break%20out%20in%20Machynlleth!Here is the ‘We want Tesco’ Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122381426973&ref=search&sid=756513... here is the ‘Stop Tesco Invading Machynlleth’http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Stop+Tesco+Invading+Machynlleth&init=quick#/group.php?gid=218414910390&ref=search&sid=756513153.3835246413..1Membership currently running three to one in favour of Tesco

Submitted by C. Vaughan on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 17:41.

I am a native of Machynlleth and I can assure everyone that 90% of residents of Machynlleth are totally in favour of the Tesco application. In fact the sooner it’s built the better. There has only been one meaningful vote in respect of the application and the overwhelming majority of residents were in favour.

Submitted by C. Vaughan on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 19:20.

Just wondering why my above post was edited so brutally!!!!

Submitted by C. Vaughan on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 19:22.

I would urge everyone to read Gareth’s letter in the County Times which gives an honest and accurate picture of the situation regarding the Tesco application.

Submitted by Richard Wellings on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 23:00.

C. Vaughan – For legal reasons, we have to be very careful about publishing statements about individuals on the blog – thus the first part of your first comment could not be published.

Submitted by D.R. Myddelton on Thu, 13/08/2009 - 10:32.

I don’t wish to be insulting, but George Monbiot sounds like a conservative. Is he content simply to resist change, or would he actually prefer to turn the clock, I wonder?I think I may be able to suggest a solution to his ‘injustice’. It depends on coercion, too, which should satisfy George. Why doesn’t the government nationalise the proposed Tesco store in Machynlleth and then run it as a government enterprise? I dare say that would soon produce a strong movement of local opinion against the new store. And in the end taxpayers should be pleased too, since closing down the failing government store will save them having to finance its continuing losses.

Submitted by Len Shackleton on Tue, 18/08/2009 - 13:00.

Having had a look at George Monbiot’s blog I am very impressed at his energy – strident opinions on so many things, and virtually all of them wrong….

Submitted by Kris on Wed, 19/08/2009 - 10:17.

Initially I hypothesised George Monbiot was a fictional character made up by some free-marketeers. Everything he writes is just too ‘too’; as if someone tried to confirm each and every cliche. Along the lines of: “Let’s make up a column writer who produces concentrates of leftie buzzwords. Let’s give him an English-sounding forename and a French-sounding surname; James Lacroix or so.”

Submitted by James Heartfield on Thu, 20/08/2009 - 19:31.

‘Locally-based environmental campaigner and journalist George Monbiot has said that the development will “wreck Machynlleth”. However, local resident of 60 years Kay Jones said she was furious over [MP Lembit] Öpik’s petition [against the siting of the new Tesco in the town]. “What has this got to do with him? “The majority of the town are for this supermarket, as it will bring jobs to the area. Machynlleth is going to be left behind and it will be left as some quiet backwater place.” The Mayor of Machynlleth, Cllr Sylvia Rowlands, said she had been inundated with comments from the public over the Tesco plans. “The response I’ve had is that more people are for it than against,” she said ‘Aberaeron Today, 6 August 2009http://www.aberaeron-today.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=30845&headline=Store%20Wars%20break%20out%20in%20Machynlleth!Here is the ‘We want Tesco’ Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122381426973&ref=search&sid=756513... here is the ‘Stop Tesco Invading Machynlleth’http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Stop+Tesco+Invading+Machynlleth&init=quick#/group.php?gid=218414910390&ref=search&sid=756513153.3835246413..1Membership currently running three to one in favour of Tesco

Submitted by C. Vaughan on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 17:41.

I am a native of Machynlleth and I can assure everyone that 90% of residents of Machynlleth are totally in favour of the Tesco application. In fact the sooner it’s built the better. There has only been one meaningful vote in respect of the application and the overwhelming majority of residents were in favour.

Submitted by C. Vaughan on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 19:20.

Just wondering why my above post was edited so brutally!!!!

Submitted by C. Vaughan on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 19:22.

I would urge everyone to read Gareth’s letter in the County Times which gives an honest and accurate picture of the situation regarding the Tesco application.

Submitted by Richard Wellings on Fri, 21/08/2009 - 23:00.

C. Vaughan – For legal reasons, we have to be very careful about publishing statements about individuals on the blog – thus the first part of your first comment could not be published.

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